1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a red phosphor for a plasma display panel (PDP), and more particularly, to a red phosphor for a plasma display panel, a paste composition including the same and a plasma display panel including a phosphor layer made of the red phosphor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Phosphors emit light when they are exposed to energy. Phosphors are used in light sources, such as mercury fluorescent lamps or mercury free fluorescent lamps, electron emission devices, panel display panels (PDPs), etc. In the future, phosphors will be used for a wider range of applications, as new multimedia devices are developed.
Plasma display panels (PDPs) are flat panel displays that display images using light emitted by ultraviolet rays that are created by discharge of a mixture of gases including neon and xenon injected into an area between a pair of glass substrates. At this time, visible light is created by each phosphor using resonance radiation light of Xe ion (147 nm vacuum ultraviolet rays). Phosphors used in PDPs have been developed by reforming cathode ray tube (CRT) phosphors that were used in the initial development of PDPs or fluorescent materials used in new application products of phosphors such as fluorescent lamps, etc. Phosphors used in PDPs require good emission luminance, high emission efficiency, high color purity and short decay time, and in particular, are not be degraded by heat or ultraviolet rays.
(Y,Gd)BO3:Eu3+ is a red phosphor that is widely used in red phosphor layers in PDPs, and which has the best luminance among conventional red phosphors. However, while (Y,Gd)BO3:Eu3+ has higher luminance compared to other types of red phosphors, it has lower color purity and longer decay time. Therefore, a method of additionally installing a filter for correcting colors in a PDP has been used. However, when such a method is used, luminance of a PDP decreases by 30-40%, and an additional device is needed, thereby increasing the manufacturing cost of the PDP.
Meanwhile, it has been suggested that (Y,Gd)BO3:Eu3+ be used in combination with phosphors having excellent color purity such as Y(V,P)O4:Eu3+. However, Y(V,P)O4:Eu3+ has a relative luminance of about 65% compared with (Y,Gd)BO3:Eu3+. In particular, Y(V,P)O4:Eu3+ has lower luminance saturation, and thus the color gamut is decreased due to luminance decrease at a high gradation degree. To address those problems, various phosphors having excellent color purity have been developed. However, since such phosphors have low luminance, they are not suitable for plasma display panels. Therefore, what is needed is an improved red phosphor for a plasma display panel that overcomes the above problems.